The Blacker the Berry
Celebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.
'Why not? She's just as a good as the rest, and you know what they say, "the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice"'
Growing up, Emma Lou Morgan stuck out - her skin was the darkest in every room, even within her own home. With the encouragement of her uncle, Emma flees smalltown Idaho firstly to study in Los Angeles before travelling to Harlem. Though she enjoys the glamour of attending the theatre and the buzz of cabaret, every excursion is tinged with the fear of discrimination. Even in big cities, Emma cannot escape the bigotry of colourism, but can she change how it makes her feel about herself?
The Blacker the Berry is an arrestingly vivid portrayal of how very deeply every facet of prejudice runs.
'Thurman's novel presents some of the most layered portrayals of New York City life...from seedy employment agency waiting rooms to swank Harlem hot spots' NPR
VINTAGE CLASSICS' HARLEM RENAISSANCE SERIES
Celebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.
'Why not? She's just as a good as the rest, and you know what they say, "the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice"'
Growing up, Emma Lou Morgan stuck out - her skin was the darkest in every room, even within her own home. With the encouragement of her uncle, Emma flees smalltown Idaho firstly to study in Los Angeles before travelling to Harlem. Though she enjoys the glamour of attending the theatre and the buzz of cabaret, every excursion is tinged with the fear of discrimination. Even in big cities, Emma cannot escape the bigotry of colourism, but can she change how it makes her feel about herself?
The Blacker the Berry is an arrestingly vivid portrayal of how very deeply every facet of prejudice runs.
'Thurman's novel presents some of the most layered portrayals of New York City life...from seedy employment agency waiting rooms to swank Harlem hot spots' NPR
Home to Harlem
Celebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.
'Why did I want to mix mahself up in a white folk's war? It ain't ever was any of black folks' affair'
When Jake Brown joins the army during the First World War, he is treated more like a slave than a soldier. After deserting his post to escape the racial violence he is facing, Jake travels back home to Harlem. But despite the distance, Jake cannot seem to escape the past and the explosive ways in which it can culminate.
Written with brutal accuracy, Home to Harlem is an extraordinary work, and was the first American bestseller by a Black writer.
'One of the most gifted writers of the Harlem Renaissance' Washington Post
VINTAGE CLASSICS' HARLEM RENAISSANCE SERIES
Celebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.
'Why did I want to mix mahself up in a white folk's war? It ain't ever was any of black folks' affair'
When Jake Brown joins the army during the First World War, he is treated more like a slave than a soldier. After deserting his post to escape the racial violence he is facing, Jake travels back home to Harlem. But despite the distance, Jake cannot seem to escape the past and the explosive ways in which it can culminate.
Written with brutal accuracy, Home to Harlem is an extraordinary work, and was the first American bestseller by a Black writer.
'One of the most gifted writers of the Harlem Renaissance' Washington Post
Not Without Laughter
Celebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.
'White peoples maybe mistreats you an' hates you, but when you hates 'em back, you's de one what's hurted, 'cause hate makes yo' heart ugly - that's all it does'
Sandy's in the fifth grade when he's forced to sit on the back row away from his white classmates and denied entry to a new amusement park. His grandmother, who is raising him alongside his mother and aunt, tells him that love is the only thing to make room for in his heart. But it's Sandy's discovery of literature that inspires him to continue his education and make sense of the unjust world he inhabits in the debut novel from one of the foremost pioneers of the Harlem Renaissance.
'[Hughes] gives his readers... a guide for careful consideration of the lives of everyday black people. Such a guide is still useful to readers and writers today. Perhaps now more than ever' Angela Flournoy, New York Times
VINTAGE CLASSICS' HARLEM RENAISSANCE SERIES
Celebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.
'White peoples maybe mistreats you an' hates you, but when you hates 'em back, you's de one what's hurted, 'cause hate makes yo' heart ugly - that's all it does'
Sandy's in the fifth grade when he's forced to sit on the back row away from his white classmates and denied entry to a new amusement park. His grandmother, who is raising him alongside his mother and aunt, tells him that love is the only thing to make room for in his heart. But it's Sandy's discovery of literature that inspires him to continue his education and make sense of the unjust world he inhabits in the debut novel from one of the foremost pioneers of the Harlem Renaissance.
'[Hughes] gives his readers... a guide for careful consideration of the lives of everyday black people. Such a guide is still useful to readers and writers today. Perhaps now more than ever' Angela Flournoy, New York Times
Quicksand & Passing
Celebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.
'She could neither conform nor be happy in her unconformity'
Nella Larsen wrote two novels in her lifetime, both of which are collected here. The first, Quicksand, follows a mixed-race woman who runs from the fictional town of Naxos to Chicago to Harlem to Copenhagen. It becomes easy for her to leave behind places but the discrimination she's running from is inescapable. In Passing, two childhood friends reconnect later in life. One, slightly more light-skinned than the other, lives her life passing for a white person, married to a flagrant racist while her friend observes uneasily.
Masterfully plotted and infinitely illuminating, Quicksand and Passing are two of the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance.
'A beloved novel from the Harlem Renaissance that follows the fraught relationship between two childhood friends, one who passes for white and one who chooses not to' Brit Bennett
'Absolutely absorbing, fascinating and indispensable' Alice Walker
'Buy the book' W. E. B. Du Bois
VINTAGE CLASSICS' HARLEM RENAISSANCE SERIES
Celebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.
'She could neither conform nor be happy in her unconformity'
Nella Larsen wrote two novels in her lifetime, both of which are collected here. The first, Quicksand, follows a mixed-race woman who runs from the fictional town of Naxos to Chicago to Harlem to Copenhagen. It becomes easy for her to leave behind places but the discrimination she's running from is inescapable. In Passing, two childhood friends reconnect later in life. One, slightly more light-skinned than the other, lives her life passing for a white person, married to a flagrant racist while her friend observes uneasily.
Masterfully plotted and infinitely illuminating, Quicksand and Passing are two of the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance.
'A beloved novel from the Harlem Renaissance that follows the fraught relationship between two childhood friends, one who passes for white and one who chooses not to' Brit Bennett
'Absolutely absorbing, fascinating and indispensable' Alice Walker
'Buy the book' W. E. B. Du Bois